It’s called asparagopsis. It is a seaweed native to Australia that was recently accelerated for commercial sale by regulatory authorities for two reasons. The first: Cows love it (just look at that happy cow up there). The second: Studies show that feeding dairy and beef cattle a diet of asparagopsis can reduce their methane emissions by up to 95 percent!
After years of frantic research and development by the CSIRO, Meat and Livestock Australia and James Cook University, the first global sale of asparagopsis was announced by CH4 – one of three companies licensed to sell the seaweed – to a South Australian meat processor called CirPro.
“We are very proud to be the first to announce a commercial delivery to the market,” said Adam Main, CH4 Australia Managing Director.
CirPro chief Reg Smythe echoed his enthusiasm. “We are starting with relatively small numbers and growing in line with CH4’s ability to produce the supplement.”
The CirPro facility in Port Pirie, which will receive the asparagopsis, is expected to be fully operational next year and is one of many large-scale feedlots and meat processors that will be the first to be able to order the seaweed-based, methane-reducing asparagopsis before expanding its offering to other types of farms in the future.
“We are targeting the animal feed industry here in Australia, but our operation in New Zealand is definitely looking at the dairy marketMain adds. “From this point we have the opportunity to expand and focus on sheep, goats, camels – anything that is a ruminant … we also need to grow to be able to offer our technology to those animals that humans see less and not additionally fed – that is the broad agricultural sector.”
A company called FutureFeed (a spin-off of CSIRO) currently holds the international patent rights for the sale of asparagopsis as a feed additive owned by FutureFeed, which is backed by Woolworths Group, GrainCorp, Harvest Road and others. And while the seaweed used to make asparagopsis is endemic to Australia and New Zealand, international licenses to sell the additive abroad have been granted†
If the potential to reduce methane emissions on a large scale is realized, the international commercial market for asparagopsis could be worth billions of dollars a year (plus, you know, help save the planet and all).
Source | Pictures† ABC News, Nationwide†
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